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Zusatztext Commin's book provides some useful insights into how the Muslim intellectuals of Syria accepted change, maintaining the cultural continuity and unity of their society admidst political disunity ... It is indeed invigorating to see the transformation of the Muslim society in Syria studied within its own socio-economic paradigm rather than pictured as propelled out of inertia by the superior culture of the West, or by the natives' despair at losing their culture ... an exceptionally sound scholarly work ... a truly original, well-written scholarly work, ranking among the ten best books written on the topic in the last decade. It is indeed a pleasure to read it and to give it the highest possible recommendation. Klappentext Religious community and nation have long been the chief poles of political and cultural identity for peoples of the modern Middle East. This work explores how men in turn-of-the-century Damascus dealt! in word and deed! with the dilemmas of identity that arose from the Ottoman Empire's19th-century reforms. Muslim religious scholars (ulama) who advocated a return to scripture as the basis of social and political order were the pivotal group. The reformers clashed with their fellow ulama who defended the integrity of prevailing religious practices and beliefs. In addition to twoconflicting interpretations of Islam! Arabism comprised a new strand of thought represented by young men with secular educations advancing Arab interests in the Ottoman Empire. Religious reformers and Arabists shared a political agenda that shifted focus from constitutionalism before 1908 toadministrative decentralization shortly thereafter. Using unpublished manuscripts and correspondence! inheritance documents! and Ottoman-era periodicals! this work weaves together social! political! and intellectual aspects of a local history that represents an instance of a fundamental issue inmodern history. Zusammenfassung This book examines Syria's religious, intellectual, and political history during the period of transformation before World War I. Focusing on an attempt to reform Islamic belief and practice at the turn of the century, Commins shows how the reformers used debates over the religious law of Islam to advance their visions of a progressive Islamic state. Based on a wide variety of previously unpublished sources, the book will shed new light on a period that is of considerable importance for the modern history of the Middle East....
